Dunhuang Vegas!

Journey so far: .. Taiwan > Hong Kong > Beijing > Harbin > Yanji > Songjianghe >Changbai Mountain > Dandong > Dalian > Dandong > Chengde > Beijing > Datong > Hohhot > Huitengxile > Hohhot > Taiyuan > Zhengzhou > Xi'an > Lanzhou > Zhangye > Jiaugyuan > Jingtieshan > Jiaugyuan > Dunhuang ....

Night 1 - 16th September

Left Jiaugyuan in a minivan at 2:30pm on a hot and sweaty day. We started the journey on long, flat tarmacked roads, good. Then the road ended and we were forced to endure bumping, banging, jumping and crunching inside the van for hours! Kate felt sick, I felt numb and we both just held on waiting for the end. The end came and then it was long, flat tarmac again. We arrived after 7 hours driving at 9:30pm and we were immediately appalled and despaired at the gaudy flashing neon lights stuck over the reproduced "Chinese" style buildings!
Tourist-ville was waiting for us! Oh no! Even the centre monument wasn't safe from the neon spectacle.

Covered in flashing neon at night......


Anyway we found the "Five Rings Hotel" or in better English "Olympic Rings", strange name we thought but great price. 15Y (1 pound) per bed.

Dunhuang is on the edge of the dessert, so sand and heat is everywhere!

Day 1 - 17th September

The tallest cave, where the tall Buddha statue lives.


We saw the Mogao Grottoes, very famous in the world. The UNESCO listed the Mogao Grottoes on the World Heritage List in 1987. In fact most of the precious textiles, paintings and other priceless scrolls were lynched by the British, French and Russian. Leaving the Americans with nothing, so they went and nicked some carvings/reliefs on the wall!

However, the site has 492 caves, with 45,000 square meters of frescos, 2,415 painted statues and five wooden-structured caves! Coowee! And the
caves are really well preserved and look great even after 2,000 years.
Lovely day, even though it was in an arranged tour that everyone must go
on! Boo!

One of the views in the 2,000 year old caves, of unprecedented importance.

Day 2 - 18th September

Went on a mad tour of Dunhuang's surrounding area in a taxi, with our new Chinese friend. Over 200km to the furthest sight and 10 hours driving around. Wonderful to see EVERYTHING, but very tiring, especially as we left at 7:00am, yes, am!

Yumen Pass, an old pass in the dessert, part of the Great Wall and protected China's borders. 500,000 Chinese soldiers died here in the war. Nasty!

Day 3 - 19th September

We covertly walked up the side of a huge sand dune and watched the sun set as the wind blew sand over the edge of the dune, creating a beautiful scene at night. Then we ran for our lives as the dune police looked like they were coming to get us! We had sneaked in previous to the climb, everyone does and the guide recommends it, we were stopped and asked to bugger off, but we played dumb, so we carried on walking, making as if we want to get our bicycles! They saw us high on the dunes, silhouetted by the sun, everything was quiet for a time, but then we saw their movements towards us in vans far below and this gave us cause for concern!

We didn't feel like paying the Y200 fine, so we ran! I was screaming at Kate to keep up, with my feet sinking with every mad stride, at the bottom of the dune and out of breath we stealthily made our way to safety in the dark. Not before sitting down in the dark, dune behind us, eating our picnic of crackers and steam buns. Then the "Blair Witch"
noises started, the dessert is scary at night, and we started to hear voices. We got up slowly and quietly walked to the bicycles. As the dogs in the homes near-by smelt the fear of our bodies, they erupted with vicious barking and snarling. I imagined rabid hounds pulling at their leads salivating with hunger.

We got back in one piece, and made our way to the shower block to clean off the sand. No hot water, so a cold rub down was all we got that night!

Day 4 - 20th September

We wait for the overnight bus to Urumuqi. Not much to see here, but we are getting warm clothes for the next leg. Going up north to Altai, on the border with Khazakstan, I think.


MC